#College football poll includes teams that aren’t even playing

The preseason AP Top 25 is out, but there’s one huge snub: COVID-19.

The virus did not make the list, but nine college football programs that will be sitting this fall out because of it did.

The Associated Press asked its voters to consider all Division I teams when submitting their ballots — including schools in the Big Ten and Pac-12, which have canceled their fall 2020 seasons — leading to Ohio State landing the No. 2 ranking behind No. 1 Clemson, despite the fact that the Buckeyes won’t play a single snap this year. But if games in the SEC, ACC, Big 12, AAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA are eventually played as scheduled, only those teams will be included in future AP polls.

There are currently 67 (out of 130) FBS teams still planning on playing this fall.

“The preseason poll has always been a speculative ranking of teams based on last year’s results and knowledge about the new makeup of teams,” said Michael Giarrusso, the AP’s global sports editor. “This year, we think it is crucial to give all the teams and all their fans a snapshot look at what the Top 25 would have been to open the season.”

It may just be more painful for the Big Ten and Pac-12 programs that made the preseason Top 25, only to be reminded that their teams with high potential won’t get to see it play out this fall. Besides Ohio State, the Top-25 teams that will sit out the season include No. 7 Penn State, No. 9 Oregon, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 16 Michigan, No. 17 USC, No. 19 Minnesota, No. 22 Utah and No. 24 Tennessee.

The AP said it will have a separate poll for the spring if the conferences that canceled their fall football seasons are able to play then.